Šuppiluliuma I

Suppiluliuma I (/ˌsʌpɪlʌliˈuːmə/) or Suppiluliumas I (/-məs/)^[1] was king of the ancient Hittite kingdom (r. c. 1370–1330 BC (middle chronology)^[2] or 1344–1322 BC (short chronology)). He garnered recognition within the Hittite kingdom as a great warrior and statesman, notable for successfully challenging the then-dominant Egyptian Empire for control of the lands between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates river. He rose to the throne by overthrowing the kingship of his older brother, Tudhaliya III.

He was involved in a situation with the Egyptian monarchy after the death of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, referred to as the Zannanza affair. The circumstances began with him sending his son Zannanza to wed widowed Egyptian queen Ankhesenamun but Zannanza disappeared never to be heard form again. The unwary decisions of Suppiluliuma resulted in conflict with Egypt that initiated the Hittite plague and the subsequent death of him and his succesor and later downfall of the Hittite empire.

Early life

Generalship

Suppiluliuma was the son of Tudhaliya II and Queen Daduhepa.^[3] He began his career as the chief advisor and general to Tudhaliya II, then based at Samuha. In this capacity, he defeated the Hittites' enemies among the Azzi-Hayasa and the Kaskas. Both enemies then united around charismatic leaders to counter him; of these Karanni founded a semblance of a royal court in Hayasa, and Piyapili failed to do likewise for the Kaska. Suppiluliuma and Tudhaliya defeated these threats in turn, to the extent that the Hittite court could settle in Hattusa again.

Kingship

When Tudhaliya II died, Tudhaliya the Younger succeeded to the throne. Soon after his accession, however, he was overthrown and succeeded by his younger brother Suppiluliuma. Some of the Hittite priests later reported this to Suppiluliumas's son, successor, and biographer Mursili II, holding it out as an outstanding crime of the whole dynasty.

Queen Henti

Suppiluliuma's first wife was Queen Henti. She is likely the mother of all of Suppiluliuma's sons, Arnuwanda II, Telipinu, Piyassili, Mursili II and Zannanza. Arnuwanda II was Suppiluliuma's successor after Suppiluliuma died in the Hittite plague, whom himself later dies in the Hittite plague. Telipinu is known from a decree appointing him as a priest of Kizzuwadna.^[3] Piyassili was later known as Sarri-Kusuh and governor of the former territory of Hanigabat west of the Euphrates. Mursili II became king of the Hittites after his older brother, King , died during the Hittite plague. Zannanza disappeared en route to Egypt to marry widowed Egyptian queen Ankhesenamun.

Suppiluliuma is also known to have had at least one daughter named Muwatti.^[3]

Banishment

A badly damaged text from the reign of her son Mursili II implies that Queen Henti may have been banished by her husband to the land of Ahhiyawa. An advantageous marriage with a Babylonian princess might have resulted in her banishment.^[3]

Queen Tawananna

After Henti's disappearance, Suppiluliuma's the next queen was a Babylonian princess named Malnigal who was the daughter of Babylonian King Burna-Buriash II. Upon her marriage to Suppiluliuma and queenship, Malnigal adopts the title Tawananna as her personal name.^[3]

Reign

Suppiluliuma caused his sister to marry the Hayasan king Hukkana, and married his daughter Muwatti to Maskhuiluwa of the Arzawan state Mira. He also married a Babylonian princess and retook Arzawan territory as far as Hapalla. His most permanent victory was against the Mitanni kingdom, which he reduced to a client state under his son-in-law Shattiwazza. He was also a master builder of large stone structures decorated with stone reliefs. It was during his reign that concepts of the sacred nature of royal leaders developed.

Relations with Egypt

Suppiluliuma interacted with the nation of Egypt across a time period of multiple pharaoh reigns. First he interacted with pharaoh Akhenaten and then with the widowed queen of pharaoh Tutankhamun. The latter episode ended disastrously for Suppiluliuma and the Hittites.

Reign of Akhenaten

Suppiluliuma then took advantage of the tumultuous reign of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, and seized control of Egyptian territory in Syria, inciting many Egyptian vassals to revolt.

Reign of Tutankhamun

Since the two children of Tutankhamun and his sister-wife queen Ankhesenamun were both born stillborn, and Tutankhamun was the last of the royal male siblings, Tutankhamun's death posed his widowed, sister-queen, Ankhesenamun with the decision of who to select as the new pharaoh. Although Tutankhamun selected Horemheb as his Iry-pat (heir), Horemheb was a militaryman of peasant birth. Horemheb had no royal blood and was, as the military commander-in-chief, technically a servant of queen Ankhesenamun. The vizier Ay, while of some royal blood, was an established vizier, and also technically a servant of queen Ankhesenamun. Ankhesenamun sought royal blood of another nation, the Hittite empire. This ensued a series of events called the Zannanza affair.

Zannanza affair

In a series of letters known as the Amarna letters, the discussion about obtaining a potential husband ensued. The dialogue is recorded in an ancient Hittite document known as 'Deeds of Suppiluliuma I', which was authored by his son Muršili II. Ankhesenamun initiates the dialogue authoring a letter signaling distress to the Hittite empire king, Suppiluliuma I, requesting one of his princes for her to wed:

My husband has died and I have no son. They say about you that you have many sons. You might give me one of your sons to become my husband. I would not wish to take one of my subjects as a husband... I am afraid.^[4]

Upon receiving Ankhesenamun's request, Suppiluliuma I states to his servant:

Nothing like this has happened to me in my entire life!... Go and bring thou the true word back to me! Maybe they deceive me! Maybe in fact they do have a son of their lord!^[5]

The Hittite messenger then returned word back to Ankhesenamun. Upon receiving reply from the Hittites expressing the Hittite's wariness of the Egyptian's intentions, Ankhesenamun replies:

Why didst thou say “they deceive me” in that way? Had I a son, would I have written about my own and my country's shame to a foreign land? Thou didst not believe me and hast even spoke thus to me! He who was my husband has died. A son I have not! Never shall I take a servant of mine and make him my husband! I have written to no other country, only to thee have I written! They say thy sons are many: so give me one son of thine! To me he will be husband, but to Egypt he will be king.^[6]

After Suppiluliuma read of Ankhesenamun's denial of malintent and expression of not appreciating the Hittite's accusatory tone, he still remained skeptical. He expressed this to the Egyptian messenger, further accusing Ankhesenamun of having ulterior motives:

...You keep asking me for a son of mine as if it were my duty. He will in some way become a hostage, but king you will not make him!^[6]

After further political negotiations, eventually, Suppiluliuma finally buckled and set aside his wariness, agreeing to Ankhesenamun's proposal. Suppiluliuma selected his son, Prince Zannanza to marry Ankhesenamun and become Egypt's pharaoh. It is generally accepted that Tutankhamun's vizier Ay ascended to the throne, marrying Ankhesenamun before or early during this Hittite-Egyptian negotation period, unbeknownst to Hittites. Fulfilling the request of Ankhesenamun, Suppiluliuma sends his son Zannanza to Egypt. However, Egyptian authorities intercepted his voyage, and Zannanza disappears and is never heard from again. Ankhesenamun's plan to marry a Hittite prince fails, and once Suppiluliuma receives word of Zannanza demise, he is in record stating:

Oh gods! I did no evil, yet the people of Egypt did this to me, and they also attacked the frontier of my country.

This instigated the conflict between Egypt and the Hittites. Egyptian pharaoh Ay, and Hittite king Suppiluliuma exchange intense letters. The letters have been translated by philologist Theo van den Hout. In a letter from Suppiluliuma to Ay, Suppiluliuma accusatorily confronts Egypt. The letter paraphrased reads:

When the queen of Egypt wrote again and again, you were not the king? But if you in, the meanwhile, had seated yourself on the throne, then you could have sent my son back home. Your servant Chani held us responsible... What have you done with my son?!...Perhaps you have killed my son! You continuously praise your troops and charioteers, but I shall mobilize my troops and charioteers, everything I have as army. For me the Stormgod, my Lord, is the king of all lands and the Sungoddess of Arinna, my Mistress, is the queen of all lands. They will come and the Stormgod, my Lord, and the Sungoddess of Arinna, my Mistress, shall execute judgement!^[7]

In Suppiluliuma's letter, he mentions of an Egyptian messenger, referred to as "Chani" in Hittite literature. Chani had stated to Suppiluliuma "why did you send your son, there was already a pharaoh, your son was not needed, you have yourself to blame for this unnecessary tragedy". After Egypt received word of Suppiluliuma response, Ay then responds to Suppiluliuma. Ay's letter paraphrased reads:

Concerning that what you write: "Should you come for revenge, then shall I take away that lust for revenge from you!" But you must not take that lust for revenge from me, but from the Stormgod, my lord, you must take it! Those who denied Zannanza the rulership, those ones should be whom for you lust revenge...Concerning that what you write to me: "If you write to me in brotherhood, then I will make peace with you", why would I write about brotherhood?^[7]

In Ay's response letter, he actively denied foul play against Zannanza and cautioned the Hittite king against retaliating. Suppiluliuma disregarded this warning and attacked an Egyptian territory capturing some Egyptians as prisoners. Suppiluliuma's third born son Muršili II wrote that he believed the prisoners to be infected with rabbit fever deliberately as a form of Egyptian biological warfare. The bacterial disease spread throughout the Hittite kingdom, eventually killing Suppiluliuma I, and his successor Arnuwanda II, which is how Muršili II became king. The Hittite kingdom eventually fell a few kings later.

In fiction

Suppiluliuma I appears in Mika Waltari's historical novel The Egyptian, in which he is presented as the ultimate villain, a ruthless conqueror and utterly tyrannical ruler. Popular culture researcher Abe Brown notes that "As Waltari's book was written during the Second World War, Suppiluliuma's depiction is likely to be at least in part inspired by Hitler, rather than by historical facts. Unlike quite a few other historical figures of many times and places who got cast in the role of Hitler, Suppiluliuma has not yet attracted the attention of any historical novelist to write a bit more nuanced popular account—though his life certainly offers rich untapped material".^[8]

Janet Morris wrote a detailed biographical novel, I, the Sun, whose subject was Suppiluliuma I, in which all characters are from the historical record, about which O.M. Gurney, Hittite scholar and author of The Hittites,^[9] commented that "the author is familiar with every aspect of Hittite culture".^[10][11]

Suppiluliuma appears in a minor role in the novel The Shadow Prince by Philip Armstrong, as the grandfather of the hero, Tupiluliuma, in which he is Tudhaliya's nephew and adopted son. It is explained that he was reluctantly forced to take the throne and exclude his adoptive brother, the younger Tudhaliyas, as a result of his predecessor's descent into madness. He is regarded as one of the greatest of the Great Kings of Hatti, but is not a man to be crossed lightly.^[12]

He is also a character in the historical fiction manga Red River, introduced as an old man who has retired from warfare. He dies shortly after the start of the story.

Suppilulima may be depicted in the 'Nantucket' novels of S.M. Stirling, but under an alternative name, with a son called Kalkash.

See also

• Piyashshili
• Suppiluliuma II
• Zita (Hittite prince), brother of Suppiluliuma

References

Further reading

• [1] Amir Gilan, "The “Šuppiluliuma Conundrum”: A Hittite King between Religious Piety and Political Performance", in Kathryn R. Morgan, ed., Pomp, Circumstance, and the Performance of Politics: Acting Politically Correct in the Ancient World, Chicago: Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, ISACS 16, pp. 193–208, 2024 ISBN 978-1-61491-106-7
• Beckman, Gary (1996). Harry A. Hoffner (ed.). Hittite Diplomatic Texts. Scholars Press. ISBN 978-0788505515.

External links

• Reign of Suppiluliuma I at the Wayback Machine (archived 29 July 2013)
• Translation of the Deeds of Suppiluliuma at the Wayback Machine (archived 4 February 2012)
• "Suppiluliuma (Hittite) – Shattiwaza (Mitanni) Treaty Excerpts". Zoroastrial Heritage. K. E. Eduljee. Retrieved 17 November 2015.

This page was last edited on 6 April 2024, at 22:59